What Do You Bring To The Table?
In collaboration with independent + small business owners we are launching a new project called "What Do You Bring To The Table?" During these uncertain times I have seen so many amazing people rise from the ashes and create new and exciting opportunities + projects for themselves, and even recreate the businesses that they already had established . I want to highlight these hardworking people and celebrate all that they are doing in these new times. At Birdy Creative we believe in celebrating others and working together to create something beautiful!
Pastor Ben Mann
Ben Mann : LGBTQ+ community leader (they/them)
Queer pastor and advocate Ben Mann (they/them) loves people from their pulpit at MCC of the Rockies and beyond. We met Pastor Ben while they were officiating a wedding for a client. Their words of wisdom and joy for marriage were so poignant that we had to partner more and discover what they bring to the table.
Pastor Ben fights daily to get LGBTQ+ individuals the mental health and spiritual care they need to thrive. His church operates a food distribution program, and has plans in 2021-2022 to launch new arts and nutrition programs to make a difference for the Cap Hill neighborhood and beyond.
As we come out of this COVID pandemic mess, Pastor Ben is aware that so many people are suffering and readjusting. In fact, June 27th marks the first Sunday that MCC’s building will be open, again, for people to start to gather and heal. In addition, from 9AM-1PM this Sunday, the church will provide free vaccines with the hope that people will protect themselves and others by getting vaccinated.
Please stop by 980 N Clarkson and celebrate our community and get your shot!
Above Ground
Above Ground Salon LoDo
At Above Ground everyone is welcome, everyone can be themselves, and everyone will find hair services they are looking for. With a diverse staff that covers all ends of every spectrum, our stylists and barbers service all hair types and styles, including naturally curly cuts, dry cutting, styling, fades, all color services including vivid colors, precision cutting, wedding styling, and textured hair treatments. Above Ground also offers a carefully curated music and art experience each time you walk through the door. The founder, Ashe, is queer and has been serving the queer community for about 20 years. Our team is committed to servicing everyone with grace, respect, and inclusivity, and doing some damn good hair.
ASHE BOWEN
Founder & Senior Stylist | Pronouns: They/Them | Instagram >>
Ashe will be behind the chair at Five Points only but available Wednesday afternoons at LoDo for a chat or a hang.ISAAC
General Manager & Barber | Pronouns: He/Him | Instagram >>
Isaac brings a passion for barbering to Above Ground where he specializes in razor fades, hot towel shaves and beard shaping. A graduate from Emily Griffith as a licensed barber, Isaac also earned a BFA in Dance from Webster University. Isaac began his career at Floyd’s Barber Shop and cant wait to advance his career by bringing you the best barbering in the west. He is an integral part of the queer and drag communities in Denver and will continue to pursue both passions!
DEMI
Stylist | Pronouns: She/Her | Instagram >>
Demi is a ninth generation Coloradan and working behind the chair since 2014. Graduating from the Aveda Institute, she apprenticed under Sassoon haircutting educators and received advanced precision cutting education with Matthew Morris.
Demi specializes in fashion colors, pixie cuts, long haircuts, blonding techniques, is trained in many color and product systems, styles for fashion shows including Denver Fashion Week. Demi has ASD and uses her unique perspective and intense eye for detail to her advantage.
Demi finds that conversation with clients and getting to know new ones to be key to her role as a stylist.
LISA
Stylist | Pronouns: She/Her | Instagram >>
Lisa Redfield has over 10 years experience in the hair industry. Known for her creative flair and love of the colorful world, whether you are doing natural or fashion colors your hair will come out with depth and dimension, you will always leave satisfied. Professionally trained as a Joico educator, she strives to learn and create new techniques to ensure every hair style and color is on trend, unique and perfectly blended for every clients’ individual needs.
IRYNA
Stylist | Pronouns: She/Her | Instagram >>
Iryna believes that looking amazing leads to feeling amazing and strives to give you the perfect cut and style that fits your unique lifestyle. Iryna has been serving precision cuts, feather razor cuts, pixie cuts, bobs, long layers, short shear cuts, fades for 11 years. Studying and mastering the latest trends and techniques is one of the many ways Iryna shows their dedication to all things beauty and making sure your look slays.
Big Locals Podcast
Ian Jimeno
The Big Locals Podcast is a platform built to spotlight the local businesses, entrepreneurs, artists, and musicians of the city of Denver, Colorado. Ian Jimeno, the host of the podcast, is new to the Denver scene, and what better way to assimilate into the community than to interview the up-and-comers and movers-and-shakers of the local markets.
The Big Locals Podcast idea came up after hearing inspirational stories of business owners who decided to take matters into their own hands and found it less risky to invest in themselves rather than investing in another entity for a livelihood. Ian plans to have Big Locals be a nationwide podcast featuring local businesses in every major metropolitan city!
With dreams of starting his own radio station, Ian found the platform of podcasting to be the next best thing without having to go through FCC guidelines. Ian is always looking for the next big story and loves a good conversation with a hot tea and a hot mic. Find him at the local Denver markets every weekend.
Velvet Roots Apothecary
Laura Murphy
Velvet Roots Apothecary first launched their small batch CBD and wild botanical products in the fall of 2019. Owner and creative behind the apothecary, Laura, is a certified herbalist in the Denver metro area. She created Velvet Roots to offer this safe space to have open conversations about improving mental health through the power of plants, the power of smokable botanicals. Helping you find this comfortable balance between mind and body with intention filled products for medicinal, self care and ritual purposes.
Velvet Roots invites you to discover the healing power of plants - not just their physical medicinal properties, but the deeper wisdom and gifts that they offer.
Angie’s Vegan Cakes
Angela Wells
Happy First Birthday to Angie’s Vegan Cakes!
Vegan entrepreneur Angela Wells has a love for all thing’s cruelty-free; she launched Angie's Vegan Cakes in March of 2020 after she struggled to find vegan cakes locally with the flavor she craved. The month before launching she made her own birthday cake and after sharing it with friends, Denver quickly got hooked to her moist yet rich cakes, delicious flavor combinations unique + designs.
Angie is a self-taught baker with a goal of helping the world turn vegan, one delicious crumb at a time! Angie's design offerings are not limited to her menu so feel free to get creative and request the cake of your dreams today!
Ordering is done by viewing the menu in the highlights section of the Instagram page + direct messaging your order. You can also contact Angela by calling her directly at 720.837.9703.
Moon Racoon Baking Co.
Kate + Zoe
When Kate + Zoe worked at a local bakery together a couple of years ago, they quickly bonded over their love for laminated doughs, local produce, and live music. The summer of 2018 they took a trip to Europe which bonded them for life through another experience - getting food poisoning. They suffered through three days of gastrointestinal hell in Munich together, praying that they would make it onto their return flight home.
After that experience they knew that they could do anything together. Prior to getting sick they had been touring bakeries in Paris, Amsterdam, and Brussels. There was a quality to the viennoiserie that they had seldom seen in the United States. During long train rides and walks through cities they discussed how to bring the pastries they saw back home with them. What would it look like to create pastries like those, but using Colorado fruits and flour?
Fast forward to the early spring of 2020. Kate is working at Watercourse Foods as a kitchen manager, and Zoe as the pastry lead at Uchi Denver. COVID-19 hits. They both got furloughed from their jobs at restaurants came to a screeching halt. Knowing they would return to their jobs eventually (and hopefully sooner rather than later) they realized, this is the moment to test drive our bakery concept. So, they started doing weekly deliveries of pastries. They spent time talking about what they wanted their bakery to evolve into. Some of their previous job experiences showed that large scale baking was not for them. So... what if they went in the complete opposite direction - what if they started a micro-bakery? Just the two of them, sourcing ingredients as locally and fairly as possible. Moon Raccoon Baking Co. was born. Moon Raccoon Baking Co. was born. As Kate + Zoe have gone back to day jobs, their ideas for Moon Raccoon have blossomed. They are currently working towards renovating Zoe's garage into a bakery fit for two under the Cottage Foods Act. Until that is completed, they will continue baking out of their homes whenever they can. They also plan to start more regular production in spring of 2021, in time for farmer’s market season.
The Easy Vegan
Alexi Mandolini + Taylor Herbert
The Easy Vegan is an approachable, thoughtful, vegetable-forward restaurant pop-up. The goal is that no one will compromise their dining experience by eating vegan with us.
We had planned to launch The Easy Vegan as a handheld-focused food truck in 2021. When Covid hit, Lex lost her culinary job and Asbury Provisions, where Taylor had tended bar, was only able to do takeout. We smashed the FF button on our plans. The owners of Asbury Provisions let us takeover the space twice weekly to veganize the bar and kitchen to host a restaurant pop-up. Once we started building food & drink menus, we knew we could do more than throw our skills into a hotdog bun.
Currently you can order their amazing food + cocktails Sundays + Mondays for takeout and dine-in. Click on the link below for menu and ordering information.
photo McMac Studio
LP Creative Events , Knapp Design Co. + Wandering Wagons Bars
LP Creative Events
Whether you’re looking for a full-service planner, a stylist to ensure your vision is fully realized, or just need someone to make sure your day runs smoothly, Loni with LP Creative Events has the skills and expertise to deliver a successful event!
Knapp Design Co.
Cara Jo Knapp is inspired by the little details that make your story unique. Her style is classic with a dash of modern that will make your wedding stationery be something you’ll be proud to look back on for years to come.
Wandering Wagon Bars
Make your bartending service standout with a mobile bar from The Wandering Wagon. Not only are our bars Pinterest worthy but our garden to glass menu features local and fresh ingredients for delicious and unique cocktails.
Polished Penny Co.
Jessica Reed
Officially launched in March, 2020 Polished Penny Co. was born after years and years (20+) of selling home goods and clothing as a hobby and to support my love of fashion, home décor, and sustainable living but on a dime. In 2016, leading up to my wedding, I sourced and sold items through third party Instagram shops setting goals to pay for things like photography and flowers with the extra income. In 2019, during a battle with cancer listing items was a welcomed distraction from the year + of cancer treatment and a helpful source of income to pay down the mountain of medical bills I was under at the time. (I am happy to say that I am now cancer free!) After losing my director position in the event industry in July due to the pandemic, what was once my hobby has become my livelihood. Building the foundation I did over the years was key to a successful launch. Shopping small is more important than ever and Polished Penny Co. offers affordable and thoughtfully curated home goods and clothing for any budget.
Jessica comes from a background in retail, sales, hospitality and design but her true calling and self-proclaimed, “top five talents” is that she is a master shopper. Finding the ‘look for less’ fuels her creative (and competitive) soul. Jessica started Polished Penny Co. as a way to bring beauty into homes and lives and as a reason not to have to pass up incredible thrifts and estate sale finds just because she didn’t ‘need’ them for herself. Polished Penny Co. has taught Jessica to be disciplined when it comes to sourcing and focus only on items that look beautiful together and work with other items in her shop. She is particularly fond of brass, sterling silver, copper, natural stone, handmade ceramics, unique items used to entertain, decorative and educational books and natural fabrics such as wool, leather, linen and cotton with the occasional wild and unexpected statement piece.
Sfoglina Denver
Jesse Albertini
Jesse Albertini, a native New Yorker, moved to Colorado in 2004 after graduating college. She came for a winter, decided to stay for a summer, and sixteen years later, is still in love with this State. Dedicating herself to the hospitality industry, Jesse has worked her way through the kitchen ranks of many well known and respected Denver restaurants. She learned how to command a kitchen from Chef Elise Wiggens, how to run a line from Chef Kate Horton. Finally, she grew a sense of craftsmanship from Chef Steve Redzikowski, to name a few.
Along the way, Chef Jesse helmed the wheel and honed her craft as executive chef at Cafe|bar, the Hive Bistro, and Gaijin. She also was part of the opening team at Jovanina's Broken Italian, where she was able to help develop the pasta program.
Jesse is also extremely passionate about responsibly sourcing seasonal produce and humanely raised animals. Reducing waste and being mindful of the environment will continue to be a focal point in Jesse's career and the driving forces behind Sfoglina.
Jesse has been working on the business plan for Sfoglina for about two years. The original plan was for a brick and mortar specialty shop with a small chef's counter. The shop was to feature fresh and dry pasta, sauces, stocks, and other food items made in house and by local small businesses. When covid hit, the hospitality industry crumbled, and I thought Sfoglina died with it. Instead of giving up, I spent a couple of months looking at my project and figuring out how to pivot. With my family's safety in mind, I decided to boil the business plan down to a much smaller version of itself. I introduced just the dried pasta at the farmer's market in the early fall. This winter, I plan to continue selling the dried pasta directly to consumers and introducing pasta meal kits for at-home cooking.
Pint’s Peak Ice Cream
Caitlin Howington
Pint's Peak is Denver's underground small batch artisan ice cream completely owned and operated by Caitlin Howington, a trained pastry chef. She fell in love with Colorado with a burning desire to share her love of high-quality ice cream with unique flavors.
Originally from Maryland, Caitlin graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Pastry Arts from Walnut Hill College in Philadelphia, PA. After focusing on pastry for 8 years while working in fine dining and hotels, she left the kitchen to become more well-rounded and fine tune other skills. Caitlin then spent several years working in a variety of roles within the hospitality industry including high-end catering + events, sales, operations + and marketing.
In August 2019, after a solo trip to Denver, she chose to sell everything, quit her job, and move to Colorado only eight months before COVID-19 related closures. She took on a sales position with an upscale catering and décor company. However, in March 2020 when COVID-19 hit, Caitlin was one of the millions laid off.
She had the idea of starting an ice cream business over the years but decided to use this new free time to launch it. Caitlin took inspiration from Pike’s Peak dubbing her elevated ice cream: Pint’s Peak.
When she’s not dreaming up ice cream concoctions, she’s also a powerlifter, swing dancer, husky mama, and lover of the outdoors.
Healthy Denver, Inc
Sharon D. Thompson + Rebecca Michelle Gibbs
HEALTHY DENVER, INC. is a nonprofit organization established in 2018 by founder and CEO, Sharon D. Thompson. Sharon is also the founder of the Healthy Memphis Festival, the Healthy Denver Festival and Mocha Enterprises, LLC. As a professional Health Advocate, Sharon has a wealth of experience and is passionate about helping improve the quality of health in the undeserved communities. Rebecca Michelle Gibbs came on board in 2019 as the Volunteer Coordinator for the Healthy Denver Festival and moved into the COO position of HDI in 2019; she brings her dynamic personality and passion for people to HDI. Rebecca is also a Financial Representative with Modern Woodmen of America and a Community Activist. Together, Sharon and Rebecca have made an incredible impact in the Denver area, continuously building HEALTH EQUITY in the community.
The HDI mission is to promote health for the mind, body and spirit by providing health and wellness professionals with resources, classes, recipes and ideas that help improve one's way of life. HDI has 5 areas of focus: Sports and Recreation, Food and Nutrition, Music and Art, Health and Wellness and 'The Kid's Corner’. One example of their work is product research and testing: focusing on all-natural, holistic and environmentally-friendly and sustainable products, they test everything from Nutritional Supplements to exercise equipment and gear to see what is the best out there.
As 2020 brought health and wellness to the forefront, Sharon and Rebecca realized the importance of their work. Although their pubic meetings and fundraising events were hampered as the pandemic raged on, with the help of friends, volunteers and colleagues, they learned to adapt to this new world. Undeterred by these challenges, they managed to execute some amazing projects such as:
“Mask On” - a campaign giving away over 400 masks in 6 different States, including the Navajo Nation.
“Colorful Conversations about Race” - a panel discussion they hosted featuring NAACP Denver Chapter President, Sondra Young and Colorado State Representative, Leslie Herod creating a safe place to discuss racial issues, the Black Lives Matter movement and politics in Denver and throughout the Country.
“Back-to-School” - with the help of Good Business Colorado they had a teacher gift bag giveaway, donating PPE and $2,000 in gift cards
Currently HDI is boosting its online platform and will soon be offering classes in yoga, fitness, meditation and relaxation. Cooking demonstrations.., educational classes and workshops for children and adults.
Denise Smith Real Estate
Denise Smith
Denise has been in the hospitality industry for 25 years, most recently as the Director of Sales and Marketing for a large local catering company. After riding the COVID wave for a couple of months, the pandemic ultimately proved that it was going to last longer than her position. She was laid off at the end of May and was faced with, what's next? She quickly shifted and obtained her Real Estate Broker License at the beginning of August. Denise has been following this market for years, as real estate has always been a hobby and passion of hers. Leaning on her 25 years of living in Denver and being in the “people business”, sales and management, she knows that the key to success is all about relationship building and understanding the product that you are selling, which luckily, came second nature to her.
Denise loves working with first time home buyers, she finds educating and assisting them through the process extremely rewarding. She closed her first deal mid-December and already has her next clients out looking for their dream house. Denise loves the house hunt, negotiating the deal and ultimately delivering a successful transaction for her clients.
